Anders' Night In

Anna and I had our first night out since Anders returned with us to Athens. We heard Garrison Keillor tell stories of Lake Wobegon at Memorial Auditorium on the OU campus. It felt weird to leave him, sort of like we were fleeing the scene of a crime, but he was in good hands with our friends Paul and Rose. The downside is that Anders is such a welcoming entertainer that he refuses to take his rest while guests are around. Any time we have visitors, he sleeps a lot less than he should. Of course, that's good news for today because it means that he will probably be catching up all day.
I think April might be my new favorite month in Athens. Garrison was talking about this time of year back in Minnesota: "From the middle of March into May, those people who never drank can feel what a hangover is like." We have had a glorious April with sunny skies most days and temperatures in the 70s, with a few 80s and 60s sprinkled in, even one 90 degree day! Back in Decorah, it has been a different story. Here is a composite conversations with my mom about the weather, which we both love discussing.
Mom (reluctantly): What's the weather been like down there?
Me: Well, it sneaked up to 90 the other day, it was in the 80s yesterday, but now we are in the low 70s. How about in Decorah?
Mom: Well, I'm going out to the porch to check....It's 41 right now, its overcast, and the wind is blowing. I'm going to have to cover my flowers because they say it's going to be in the mid 20s tomorrow night. It did get up to 60 on Easter.
Me: It was in the mid-70s and sunny here on Easter. Have you mowed yet?
Mom: Mowed?! I don't mow here until my brother Jim's birthday, on April 29.
Me: I've mowed twice. The weather is supposed to stay like this for a while.
Mom: But you have to deal with allergies...
Me: Yeah, but claratin takes care of that, plus the flowering trees and bushes make this time of year so beautiful around here.
Mom: Well, it will get nice up here...eventually.
Me: Yeah, in May.
Mom: Yeah, by May it should finally be nice around here...
So there you have the real life difference between the season of spring in SE Ohio and hangover season in the Upper Midwest.
There is a tree out the office window right now that is a vibrant purple color right now. My favorite blooming tree is the one out our bedroom window. It hasn't bloomed yet, but when it does it has these big, heavy, white flowers that weigh down the branches. It looks like they will open by the weekend. It's a fun surprise because you go to bed one night with bare branches, then open up the blinds the next morning and there are huge white flowers right outside your window.
I could go on, but my mom is probably getting progressively more depressed by reading this. Well, she has her revenge in July when this place turns into canopy jungle and NE Iowa is crisp and sunny.